The Oni
by Young Justice02
Summary: This is the story of a boy named Kamron. Kamron is a shapeshifter, and he is being chased by a dark man named Siete. Long dead Greek gods are calling to him in his dreams, and he sees vampires.
1. Beginnings

In Greek mythology Morpheus, Icelus, and Phantasus were gods of Sleep, sons of Hypnos. Morpheus gave dreams of men, Icelus gave dreams of birds and beasts, and Phantasus gave dreams of inanimate objects.  
  
  
  
  
  
1 Prologue  
  
Things aren't always what they seem. The warm sunshine on your back in the middle of the day can hide heartless predators just out of your view. Then again, a cold, frosty night in the middle of the full moon can often hide a hidden friend somewhere, watching… waiting… I don't know, that's just the way I look at it.  
  
His name was Kamron, but the few humans he associated with knew him as Kurt. He was born to a young woman named Ravenah living in Japan in about the eighteenth century. This woman was very different than what you would consider a normal woman. She was an Oni. Oni is the Japanese word for ghost, or demon. Actually, she was a shape-shifter. You may not be familiar with the term, so I'll tell you in this story. Pay attention though, or you won't get the full depth of what it means to be Oni.  
  
This story involves the true Oni of this world: dead gods, long since forgotten. Vampires, shape-shifters, witches, humans, and dreams. This is the story of Kamron.  
  
2 Chapter 1: Beginnings  
  
She ran through the forest of colorful autumn leaves. They would not catch her child like they caught the others. She feared for her baby more than her own life. She was always thought of as an outcast; her blue skin saw to that. She could have changed the color at will, but she did not enjoy hiding her true self from the rest of the world, even if they feared and hated her. Oni was a name she heard often, and few people talked to her or even let themselves be in the same room as her. She wasn't evil; she would never harm anyone, unless they tried to harm her baby. She ran farther and farther from the village, until a massive river separated her from the freedom she desired. The river on one side, the angry villagers on the other, she was running out of time.  
  
'What should I do?' She thought to herself.  
  
2.1 'Throw her in the river', replied the real Oni that tortured her so often. 'Do not worry, I will save your precious child and raise him for you. So go, join the humans.'  
  
"Siete! Why do you try to humble me! I will never join their kind; they are worse than the Oni that they hunt!"  
  
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the cold night wind, walking on the water in front of her. Unlike her pacifist's aura, this aura spoke of evil, but a strange type of kindness toward Ravenah and her child.  
  
"Do it now," said the figure, "I can be your child's savior."  
  
"Why do you mock the God I have learned about from the foreigners? Stop walking on the water!" spat the woman.  
  
"Because these gods that they speak of do not exist."  
  
"I refuse to believe that! But… I will spare my child's life; even though I fear of a fate worse than death for him." Anger and hatred were flowing through her veins now. She had to save her child at all costs. The figure on the water, Siete, disappeared, and the mob was getting closer. She knew what she needed to do.  
  
She reached out her mind and grabbed images of friends, families, and associates of her pursuers, combining them all into a mental image of one person. Then she used the ability that everyone born under the same nightmare as she had. As she focused on her goal, she felt her body start to change. Her heartbeat sped up to normal human heartbeats, her blue, slightly scaled skin changed into the horrible soft epidermis of a human, she felt her face gradually widen and begin to wrinkle, yes, the golem was an old woman. She felt the slight burning sensation as her eyes changed from the usual yellow to a brilliant green. Her sleek body transformed into that of an old woman, frail and weak. Her head itched as her combed back blood-red hair turned gray and frizzy. Then she focused her power onto her clothes and watched as they changed from a perfectly clean, bright white dress laden with jewels to a saggy peasant's rags.  
  
'I must save my baby,' she thought to herself. 'At any cost.'  
  
Then, she threw the child into the river.  
  
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Runaway  
  
He left after first period. He couldn't possibly stay. The man was there, at school, waiting for him. 'Why? Why does that demon insist on tormenting me?' he asked himself as he ran from the campus, going as fast as his feet could take him. He passed a car on the highway, and kept running. He brushed away his long blonde hair that fell down around his cold, green eyes. His pale skin was sweating in the summer sun. "What is wrong with me?" he shouted. This was it. He was going to go far away this time, and he would never come back.  
  
He was finally in the next town. He would stop here to get food and then keep going. He combed his fingers through the braids of his dark black hair. His browned body glistened. He walked into the store, grabbed a coke and a bag of chips, and started to run for the door. It was a pain not to have any money.  
  
"Hell no! You ain't shoplifting from my store," said the old, bald man at the counter, before pulling a gun from under the cash register somewhere, jumping over the counter, and pointing the .44 magnum at the boy's head.  
  
'Crud,' he thought to himself. Still running toward the door and the man blocking his way, he leaped into the air, perfectly executing a roundhouse kick. As his heel met the man's temple, the boy's dark skin glimmered a bright blue, and his brown eyes flashed yellow.  
  
The man fell to the ground, knocked out by the blow dealt to him by the strange youth. The boy ran off, changing once again into another personage.  
  
'Well, at least I got some Doritos.'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was a week later, and his freckled skin was cold and red, as snow threatened to fall out of the sky onto his bright red hair. Oklahoma weather was weird. He'd have to go somewhere where the weather was consistent next time. The sun was hidden behind a sky of clouds. He was sitting on a school bench, watching people eat lunch. A dark shadow walked up behind him.  
  
"Kamron, you can't keep running from me," said the thing. "I will be with you until you accept the truth."  
  
"Damn it, Siete! Leave me the hell ALONE!" shrieked the boy, as he ran off, his hair becoming blood-red and his skin changing deep blue.  
  
"Dumb kid," the man known as Siete exhaled. It had been a hard week for the boy. Siete had made sure of that, but he knew; the child had to know. 'I must find a way to tell him.' The dark man disappeared in a puff of brimstone.  
  
A tree stump that had been watching in the distance sighed to itself. "Poor child. So much for Kamron to learn yet," it said, and fell silent. 


	2. But a Dream

Chapter 2: But a Dream  
  
Darkness. Loneliness. Then… voices. A trinity of voices. What were they? He didn't know. Kamron had been having these same dreams for weeks now. Always darkness, and a conversation between 3 unholy men.  
  
A young child, innocent with an Old English accent "Should we help him?"  
  
A gruff, cruel-sounding man, his voice as cold as ice "No, let him stay in the dark a little longer."  
  
A nobleman with a dignified accent "I think it is time that we reveal things to him."  
  
The cruel man again, "No! Morpheus… He does not need to know… yet."  
  
The young child once again "Please, Morpheus, let's tell him. Don't listen to Icelus. I saw the shifter running from the Dark One. I think we can help him. PLEEAASE can we help him?"  
  
The nobleman, Morpheus, "Yes, we will help him. All in good time, though. Most certainly not all at once. It would kill him to try to absorb the entire story in one night."  
  
The gruff man, Icelus, snickered. "Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea, then."  
  
"ICELUS!! I can't BELIEVE you would say such a thing," said the small one, known by his brothers as Phantasus.  
  
"Oh, hush now, child. You know that your brother was only joking. We will show him now," said Morpheus.  
  
Suddenly, the darkness of Kamron's dream gave way to a brilliant burst of light. Now, where there had been all blackness, there was all white, except for a figure approaching Kamron's dream self. It was a man, dressed in rich purple and green robes. This man had a small golden crown on his head, and looked as though he was a Handsome Prince brought out of one of the storybooks.  
  
"Hello Kamron. I am Morpheus, prince of dreams. I bring dreams of men to you to help and guide. Do not be frightened by what you will see. They are only my brothers."  
  
"Wha?" began Kamron, but he was interrupted by another burst of light. Suddenly, a large bison appeared next to the nobleman, and began hoofing the ground. The bison was strange in that its fur was silver, and that it had a diamond between its horns.  
  
"This is…" began Morpheus, but the beast interrupted. "I am Icelus, and I bring dreams of beasts and birds."  
  
Suddenly, the bison was no longer a bison, but an amazing, frightening phoenix, flying high above Morpheus's head.  
  
"He's really not bad once you get to know him," said the nobleman.  
  
Once again, there was a flash of light, and when the light faded, a bright star appeared. It was so bright that it even outshone the flaming phoenix.  
  
"Hi Kamron!" said the burning ball of gas. "My name is Phantasus, and I bring dreams of objects, possessions, places, and anything these two don't." The star pointed (Kamron didn't understand how a star could point, but it did) at the Man and the Bull.  
  
"You might recognize me better as this," said the star, before transforming into a tree stump. Kamron shook his head, his mouth hanging open as he gazed upon the three magnificent things that stood before him.  
  
"Oh, you still don't? But you should! This tree stump has been following you for the past month!" This came from the man called Icelus, who was now an evil-looking bunny rabbit.  
  
"Anyway," started Morpheus, "we are here to help you find yourself. And maybe in the process, you can help us."  
  
"How can I help you?"  
  
"None of your business," said the hell-bent bunny, before the others had a chance to reply.  
  
Suddenly, the dream shifted into another.  
  
Kamron was standing in an old alley, with rats scurrying across the ground. Kamron was about six feet tall in this dream, with long blonde hair, and brilliant green eyes, though his clothes were tattered and torn.  
  
Dark clouds rolled in, and it began to rain. A man appeared. This man was similar to the nobleman, but yet, so completely different that there was absolutely no resemblance between the two. The man was rugged, and Kamron could tell that he was a bum who had spent all of his life on the streets, begging for his next meal. He was dressed in multicolored rags, and there was a tiredness to him that made one automatically feel sorry for him and the life that he led.  
  
"Are you Morpheus?" asked Kamron.  
  
"I'm just a homeless guy, retard," replied the man. "I don't know no friggin Morpheus."  
  
The man pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and bent over, trying in vain to light it in the rain.  
  
"Dumb friggin cigs," he said, before throwing the cigarette into a drainpipe. "Walk with me."  
  
They began to walk out of the alleyway, watching the poor people and beggars try to make some sort of housing out of boxes, to protect them from the rain.  
  
"You're a Shifter," said the man.  
  
"A what?" This comment took Kamron off guard.  
  
"You're a Shifter. A shape shifter. A Were. An Oni. A Lochi. Call it whatever you want."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"You're in denial. Don't you find it odd that you're appearance is constantly changing? Haven't you ever looked in a mirror?"  
  
"No, now that I think about it. I've never looked in a mirror, because… it's just never seemed important to me."  
  
"You're a strange one, kid. Just listen to me, if this guy named Siete offers you any help, don't take it from 'em. He's not a git you wanna mess with."  
  
The man, started to walk away, right into the street. A car was heading straight for him.  
  
"But wait! What's your name? What does Oni mean??" Kamron saw the car.  
  
"Call me Bob," said the man.  
  
"WATCH OUT FOR THAT…"  
  
  
  
Kamron awoke, sopping with sweat, in a bed that was not his. 


	3. Unfamiliar Faces

Chapter 3: Unfamiliar Faces  
  
When he had first dozed off, he was in an alleyway somewhere in Southern Texas. Now, he was in a completely dark room, lying in a softly cushioned bed laden with silk, in God knows where.  
  
Kamron roamed around the room for a time, searching for a light switch. He felt vulnerable in the darkness. Finally, he found a stub sticking out of the wall. He flipped it, and CLICK, the light flashed on, momentarily blinding him. When the boy gained his vision again, he took a long look around the room.  
  
'How did I end up here?' he asked himself.  
  
The room was quite large, and was decorated in a monotonous black, everywhere. It was unnerving to be in such a room. He stepped outside into a hallway. On all sides of the corridor were other doors, each with numbers.  
  
'Okay, I must be in an apartment or somewhere.'  
  
His room number was sixty-six, pretty easy to remember, and the door didn't have a lock, so he just closed it and started to walk down the hall.  
  
After awhile, he came to an elevator. Having nothing better to do, he pressed the button, and stood, waiting. It was strange, because the hallway was abandoned. Not a soul roamed it, except for him. After a few minutes of waiting on the elevator to arrive, he got fed up and decided to take the stairs. Before walking over to the stairs, he glanced at his reflection in the metallic doors on the outside of the elevator. A tall, handsome young man looked back at him.  
  
He did a double take to take a longer look at himself. Bob's words to him in his dream ran through his head as he examined his jet-black, spiky hair, his dark black eyes, and his pale, bony skin. He was skinny and muscular, wearing a plain white muscle shirt and a pair of faded carpenter jeans. A solid black barbed-wire chain was tattooed around his left bicep.  
  
'Hmmm… When did I get that?' he asked himself, before finally pulling himself away from the mirror-like metal and slowly making his way down the stairs.  
  
The lobby was run down and abandoned, much like the rest of the building. He stepped outside into a gloomy ghost town. An eerie tune of church bells was playing in the distance.  
  
"Where am I?" he asked himself.  
  
"You're in New Mayhem," answered a feminine voice behind him.  
  
Kamron jumped, surprised by the sudden presence to his back. He quickly turned around to see a pretty girl, with pale skin and golden eyes looking up at him. She looked about eighteen years old, but she wasn't clumsy and awkward like most girls of her age. She had a sort of maturity to her that suggested that she had lived for many more years than what she was.  
  
Her hair was black with golden streaks running through it, and her eyes were the same golden tint that her hair was. Her skin was pale, like his, and her figure was perfect, with just the right curves and everything. The girl was wearing a dark black long sleeved shirt and blue jeans that showed off her excellent figure. She appeared confident, strong, and cunning. She was looking at him with a straight face, never smiling, but Kamron could tell that she was amused.  
  
"You scared the crap out of me! W-Who are you?" he asked quickly.  
  
"Call me Risika," she said, before disappearing.  
  
"What the…" How could someone disappear like that??  
  
He turned back to the town, and started walking. He glanced ahead and saw a run-down bar. This town was strange, in that it was surrounded on all sides by trees. He didn't want to stay out in the open any longer, so he made for the bar. He could here rock music playing from the building, and as he got closer to it, it drowned out the eerie church music.  
  
"Las Noches," he read on the sign as he entered the bar. There were blood red strobe lights flashing everywhere, and there were shattered mirrors covering all of the walls. There were a few tables with people sitting at them. The music was deafening.  
  
Kamron walked up to the bar and asked the bartender for a drink. The girl handed him something, he wasn't sure what, and he took a sip.  
  
"AARRGGHH!" he screamed, spitting the drink all over the bar. "What is this?"  
  
"Hell if I know," replied the woman, and walked off.  
  
A few people gave him dirty looks. He figured he wasn't welcome here. He threw the glass to the floor, and walked out of the bar.  
  
He stepped outside, and a dark, familiar man walked up to him.  
  
"Siete!" shouted Kamron to the man.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Oh, you know me," replied the boy.  
  
"Believe me, if I knew you, I'd let you know. Now get out of my way," said the man, before pushing the boy away. The shove was so strong, though, that the boy flew into the air and cracked his head on one of the trees surrounding the town, knocking himself unconscious.  
  
  
  
YJ here! This chapter should help start to straighten things out. Umm……… I'm considering a title change for the story, and maybe a beginning poem, like in the Atwater-Rhodes books. I'm considering Jabberwocky for the poem, but, any suggestions are welcome. Incident in the Rose Garden is another good poem I'm considering. Just remember:  
  
REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS  
  
By the by, I NEED a beta-reader. Get ahold of me if you can. Thanx.  
  
--YJ02-- 


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